Transgender girls must leave Girlguiding by September 6, the organisation has said following a row over their inclusion.
It means all trans girls – those born male but identifying as female – must stop attending Guides, Brownies and Rainbows groups from that date.
Feminist campaigners today welcomed the move and said it meant a ‘shameful episode’ of ‘harming children’ was finally coming to an end.
The move follows an announcement in December which stated Girlguiding was no longer accepting trans girls and membership would in future be limited to ‘girls and young women’.
It came almost eight months after the April 2025 Supreme Court ruling, which said the words ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
Girlguiding said that since that ruling, it had undertaken ‘detailed considerations, expert legal advice and input from senior members, young members’, its council and board of trustees.
In an update today, the organisation said trans girls who are members can stay until September 6.
It added that any trans girl or trans woman who is currently volunteering in a role open to women only will be required to move by this date to a position that is open to male or females.
In a statement, Girlguiding said the time between now and September 6 ‘allows affected members and their families time to plan, prepare, access support, and decide when – between now and September – they feel ready to leave’.
Transgender girls must leave Girlguiding by September 6, the organisation has said following a row over their inclusion (file picture)
It means all trans girls – those born male but identifying as female – must stop attending Girl Guides, Brownies and Rainbows groups from that date. Pictured: Girl guide troop in the 1980s
Reacting this afternoon, Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at sex-based rights charity Sex Matters, said: ‘Requiring trans-identifying boys to leave is no doubt difficult for Girlguiding, but it is the right thing to do. A lot of children have been harmed by Girlguiding UK’s gender self-ID policy. All of them, both the girls and the trans-identifying boys, deserved better.
‘This news will come as a relief to many girls and their parents, who greatly value single-sex provision. Sex Matters has heard from a number of them. But it’s important to remember that it will be difficult and distressing for the boys who were wrongly told by the adults around them that claiming to be girls made it OK for them to be in girl-only spaces. It never was.
‘By thinking it could redefine sex and make up its own rules, Girlguiding UK showed no concern or understanding for girls’ rights and boundaries. But it also failed to think clearly about what boys confused about their sex really need, which isn’t validation in a falsehood. This shameful episode of harming children in the name of “inclusion” went on for far too long, but at least it is now drawing to an end.’
Girlguiding members can range in age from four to 18 and there are currently around 300,000 across the Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers groups within Girlguiding, as well as around 80,000 volunteers.
The organisation has previously said it does not collect gender identity information on its members and therefore does not have numbers for how many might be affected by the rule change.
It is thought the decision to ban trans girls was prompted by legal action from a mother who had threatened to sue.
The woman said in a pre-action letter that said the organisation was ‘exposing girls to harassment’ and creating a ‘humiliating environment’ by allowing trans girls.
Speaking to the Daily Mail last year under condition of anonymity, she accused the organisation of ‘prioritising boys’ over the last eight years.
She said the policy, in place from 2017, discriminated against her seven-year-old daughter because it would mean her sharing toilets, showers and changing rooms with male-born youngsters, without prior consent.
She said this could cause the same safeguarding risks as sharing with any other boy.
She said: ‘The charter for Guides says it is for girls and young women.
‘And no matter how much they grow their hair, wear a dress, do whatever – boys can never be girls.
‘We are human beings, mammals. Sex is binary and immutable.’
She said the organisation had chosen the ‘vanishingly tiny number of boys and men who identify as female’ and decided to ‘prioritise them over all the girls and women who want to be a part of Girlguiding’.
She added: ‘It does astound me that so many otherwise sensible people are putting boys over girls, even in an organisation that is supposed to put girls first.’
The statement issued by Girlguiding last year said: ‘It is with a heavy heart that we are announcing trans girls and young women will no longer be able to join.’
